There already is a free market of ideas. It's called the Internet.

It's true. Anyone with a computer and a modem may say anything about anything on the Internet, and anyone with a computer and a modem can read anything anyone else says there. It is not quite so easy in those countries whose governments are terrified by the prospect of their citizens being free to think, speak, and read the truth, like Red China, North Korea, and Iran; but, even in those oppressed countries, it can be managed.

So what is so different about The Autonomist?

Theo's Has Everything

When I was a boy, there was a store in our town called Theo's. Most people did not regularly shop at Theo's, but everyone sometimes went there. The reason people did not usually shop at Theo's is because he had so much packed into such a small space with no discernible organization, it was impossible to find what you wanted in Theo's store. The reason everyone eventually ended up going to Theo's is because everyone, on some occasion, would need or want something they could find nowhere else, and everyone knew, "Theo had everything."

So off to Theo's they would go. "Theo, do you have any such'n'such?" "Sure, sure, I gut," he'd say, and off he'd shuffle, moving boxes and cartons, pulling out drawers or standing on a chair to pull some odd container from a shelf next to the ceiling; then returning, with a big grin, he would present exactly the thing one was looking for.

The Internet is kind of like Theo's. The Internet has everything, but when somebody really wants to find something, they must either poke around forever with little hope of finding it or ask Theo, only on the Internet it's not Theo, it's Google, or some other search engine.

Only If You Know What You Want

The Theo analogy can only be pressed so far, but there are two other comparisons I would like to make.

Theo's was a wonderful resource when you knew what it was you wanted, but more often than not, when one goes shopping they are not looking for a specific thing, but a generic thing, a new sweater, an anniversary gift, a tool for removing stumps, and sometimes we shop just to learn what new products are available on the market. That kind of shopping cannot be done at Theo's or on the Internet using Google. We cannot ask Google to find an xyz for us if we do not even know there such a thing as an xyz.

In the market of ideas, there is not on the Internet what one could describe as a free market of ideas, because most ideas are presented on the Internet in the form of little "specialty" stores with a very narrow scope to their inventory. There are Libertarian stores, and Objectivist stores, and "gun rights" stores, but no grand emporium or "superstore" of ideas where one can see the latest products and examine the great variety of ideas available.

Everything, but not Everything

The last comparison I want to make to Theo's is this: while everyone said, "Theo's has everything," it was not quite true. Theo's did not have drugs or groceries, for example. Theo had hard goods including everything from firearms to pots and pans, and from dress clothes to doll's clothes, but not really everything.

So what does Theo's have to do with the Autonomist? The opening page describes The Autonomist as: A free market of ideas for free individuals. A free market invites all products by all individuals wishing to sell them to compete. In this market, the sellers are writers and what they are competing for is the time, interest, agreement, and, if their product is really good, the cold hard cash of those who come to this market seeking those ideas which entertain, encourage, inspire, or explain the truth they seek.

The Autonomist intends to be a market for all ideas, but not all the ideas there are or possibly can be. Like Theo's, "everything," means "everything within the limit of hard goods," so the Autonomist's, "all ideas," means, "all ideas that relate to individual liberty and limited government."

The Autonomist has very definite ideas about what freedom is, how it can be achieved, and the principles (philosophy) that define and determine both. But the Autonomist's views are not the only ones embraced by those who love and pursue liberty and justice. In my article, "Shoot the Bastards?" I described several different views and movements involved, in one way or another, with the pursuit, or at least the defense, of individual liberty.

A Private Club is Not an Open Market

All those organizations, movements, programs, and "think tanks," involved in some fashion with liberty represent ideas competing in the free market of ideas. In fact, they are not competing very well, because all of these views and movements have their own WEB sites. The Objectivists have their own WEB sites, the Libertarians have their own WEB sites; those concerned with property rights violations, gun rights, government education abuses, taxes, invasions of privacy, and government regulation of business, drugs, and health care, all have their own WEB sites. Mostly Objectivists go to Objectivist WEB sites, mostly Libertarians go to Libertarian WEB sites, and all the other WEB sites are visited mostly by those who already agree with and are interested in what is being promoted there.

None of the ideas promoted and argued for by all these different views are really competing at all, at least not on the Internet. Except for those who already hold the views of any particular organization or movement, nobody else knows what they are, or, if they do, they know them only vaguely, and do not understand the arguments behind the views or what the objectives of these movements, other than their own, really are. They are like private clubs, important for informing like-minded people and providing them a place to say and do the things they like to do. If the objective, however, is to compete in the free market of ideas, these "private clubs" are not going to do it.

The Autonomist Free Market

The Autonomist WEB site does not have a specific political or philosophical agenda. The Autonomist, that is, Reginald Firehammer, has a very specific agenda and a fully developed philosophy, but the purpose of The Autonomist WEB sit is not to promote Mr. Firehammer's agenda, but to provide a true free market of ideas in which The Autonomist philosophy, methods, and view of the world can presented in open competition with views of others seeking and promoting individual liberty and limited government.

Are you an Objectivist? Do you write and support Objectivist WEB Sites? Do you think Objectivism is the best philosophy ever and that the problems of the world would go away if people would just understand the principles of Objectivism and implement them in their lives? One thing is sure, if all you write only ends up on Objectivist WEB sites, only Objectivists are going to read what your write. By all means, support your Objectivist WEB sites, but if you want anyone other than Objectivists to read your outstanding work, you must publish somewhere those who are not Objectivist will read it. Publish it on the Autonomist.

Are you a Libertarian. Are you convinced if everyone would just understand what Libertarianism is, they would embrace it, vote the socialist, collectivist, post-modern, multiculturalists out of office and bring this country back to being the free country the founders intended? Great, but if your work is only being read by other Libertarians, who is it going to be convinced. Submit it to the Autonomist.

Are you a Christian who thinks the obvious oppression of Christians in public schools, and their persecution in foreign nations, especially Muslim nations, are symptomatic of a moral decline in this country and the world resulting from an abandonment of God and Godly institutions. If only other Christians are hearing your message, who do you intend to influence. But one thing, Christian, or Buddhist, or anyone embracing any other religion, while you are free to promote your views on individual liberty and limited government from the perspective of your religion, because individual liberty means every individual is free to think, believe, and promote what they choose, what you may not do on The Autonomist, is promote your religion itself, because that is not within the scope of this market; and neither you, nor anybody else, may use a religion or ideology as an excuse for promoting or defending government oppression or control of the behavior of any individual, because that is the very poison for which this store is meant to provide the antidote.

Do you believe the ultimate defining political issue is the Second Amendment, as I do? Where are you promoting gun rights, and who is reading it? Are you appalled that property rights are being violated by government at every level, Federal, state, and local? Where are you writing about it and who is listening? Whatever you see as a serious threat to individual liberty, from the excesses of the various so-called crime enforcement agencies to the true nature of the Muslim threat to Western Culture and values, if only those who are already convinced of your views are hearing your message, your are preaching to the choir. You need to publish in The Autonomist.

The Risk of Freedom

I was recently banned from a forum, not for violating any rules of decency or propriety, not for abuse or any of the other kinds of things people frequently are, and ought to be, banned from places where decent people like to discuss issues and ideas. I was banned because the views I expressed did not agree with those of the owner of the site. That, of course, is perfectly within his rights, but was very odd, because, I was invited by that owner to present those opposing views, and he even published them in his magazine.

Those who know the facts of the case, know my views and my presentation of them were no threat to those who hold the opposing views. The reason for my banning was fear, fear of freedom of speech and thought. The owner of the site obviously did not believe the views he promotes could compete in an honest, open, free market of ideas.

But that is the danger of a free market, not just a free market of ideas, but any free market. There is no guarantee that in a free market the best product will win. It very well may be the best product will be considered too expensive by most, or the best ideas too demanding or difficult to embrace. It is almost always the case the very best, especially if new, in both products and ideas, are rejected, because their value is too difficult for most to properly judge.

But in any kind of controlled market, it is unlikely the very best products, in goods or ideas, would ever be available at all. In a free market, all products and all ideas are available for all to judge for themselves, making available to the truly discriminating, the very best human ability and intelligence is able to craft.

The Autonomist invites you to present your intellectual wares in its Free Market of Ideas and encourages those seeking truth to examine the wares displayed here. You just may find something new, something delightful or useful, something indispensable to your own pursuit of happiness and liberty.